Donald Zacharias

Donald W. Zacharias, who spent six years as president of Western Kentucky University and then led Mississippi State University, has died of complications from multiple sclerosis, Mississippi State said Sunday. He was 77.

He died late Saturday night, said daughter-in-law Sarah Zacharias of Boulder, Colo.

Zacharias was born in Salem, Ind., and taught at Indiana University and the University of Texas, where he moved into administration. He became WKU's sixth president in 1979 and served until Aug. 31, 1985, before going to Mississippi State.